This research explores the association between authentic leadership and librarian innovative behavior in Vietnamese and Thai academic libraries. In detail, the study collected data from 286 librarians in Vietnam and 274 librarians in Thailand. The results reveal significant differences in the influence of authentic leadership on innovative behavior between the two countries. In Vietnam, self-awareness and self-regulation were found to significantly foster innovation among librarians, whereas the internalized moral perspective and balanced processing showed negative associations with innovation. In contrast, in Thailand, while authentic leadership still significantly influenced innovative behavior, the effects were less pronounced, and self-regulation did not reach statistical significance. The results highlight that authentic leadership plays a more substantial role in promoting innovation in Vietnamese academic libraries, highlighting the influence of cultural and organizational factors. This research broadens library literature by developing a comparative study of authentic leadership’s effects on innovation in two countries, providing insights for leadership development in academic libraries and emphasizing the need for culturally contextualized leadership approaches. Future research should explore additional leadership models and investigate broader contextual factors that may mediate the leadership-innovation relationship across diverse settings.